Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

departure was delayed and we weren't expecting to leave until 3 or 4 November.
The oil tanker Powell, for which we had been waiting, turned up on 2 November and
anchored some distance away. Because of the gale that still blew she was unable to
come alongside, so there we were until the wind should drop and then it would take
a further 36 hours or more to refuel. I did some work that day on an elephant seal
paper I was writing for the F.I.D.S. Scientific Report Series, but dropped off to sleep
in Cdr. Buckle's cabin. Later we went up for drinks with Captain Virik, his (British)
wife and some others.
It was rather tedious filling in time tied up near the shore; if only the wind and
rain would stop I could go ashore and take a long walk through the woods. The
surrounding country looked really lovely - a long indented shoreline with thick
woods and islands lying out in the Fjord. It looked a bit like Derwentwater, in the
Lake District. Four days later it was still raining and blowing a gale as it had done
nearly all the time since we arrived. Salvesen's Factory Ship Southern Harvester now
arrived from Newcastle and anchored in the fjord. Ahka Christopherson kindly
drove Commander Buckle and me to Sandefjord, where we had drinks in his very
modern and attractive home followed by dinner (smorbrod) with his family. Then
we went on to see his father, who had been Captain of the FF Abraham Larsen until his
retirement. My equipment went astray and I had been trying to arrange for it to be
sent on. I made enquiries of the British Naval Attache in Oslo about my ten boxes of
equipment, and a lorry was sent to collect them. Henry Buckle and I went ashore, to
inquire about the boxes and he bought two pairs of spectacles. At last it seemed that
my equipment would be aboard that night.
We left Husvik on Guy Fawkes Day, 5 November, after the Powell completed the
transfer of oil. The 23,000 ton Balaena moved out with the assistance of one tug, and
we spent seven hours swinging the compass and testing the direction-finding and
other radio equipment. This meant steaming slowly in circles in the Fjord near some
lovely wooded islands. The following day we were in the middle of the North Sea
with dozens of lights indicating the position of other ships. I was to work in the
chemical laboratory, near the stern and one deck down from the main deck - the after
‘plan’. I had been busy putting my part of the laboratory in order, unpacking my
equipment and scrubbing the benches. I still had to do the floor, which was stiff with
dirt after the refit.
The ship entered the Straits of Dover two nights later after dark, so we didn't see
the white cliffs of Dover. It had been quite rough - wind to gale force and a heavy
swell - the water looking very green showing that it was shallow.
Meals were at unaccustomed times: breakfast 7.30 am, lunch 11.30 am, coffee 3.0
pm and supper 6.0 pm. I fell into a regular routine of working until near supper-time,
then cleaning up and showering. At 8.0 0’clock there would be a film show in the
mess room, to which I usually went. The refrigerator wasn't working yet but it
would be useful in the tropics. There was an oven in the lab, not for cooking but for
scientific work. Initially I hadn't any work to do in connection with whaling. Each
day I got the ship's position from the bridge and certain other information and wrote
it up in my journal. There was nothing much to enter as yet, except the bird
sightings. I spent a quarter of an hour or so on deck each day with binoculars looking
out for birds, but so far we had only had gulls of various kinds and a few land birds
which took a rest on the ship before flying on again.
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